From Our Members: Lessons from Using Storytelling as Trauma Prevention and Healing in Central Africa

12/31/2017

by Pauline Zerla

As a peacebuilding professional who focuses on storytelling and Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR), I spent most of my professional career in volatile parts of the African continent. I have lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) and worked in South Sudan, Somalia and Sierra Leone. I specialized in the reintegration of former child soldiers and the fostering of social cohesion among conflict-affected communities. To date, one of my most memorable experiences has been working with leaders of communities affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army across South Sudan, CAR and the DRC to support community reconciliation and trauma healing.